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Games of March

So this list is a little late and for that I apologize. The first few games are old news already, but March in general is a huge month for games. The powers that be might as well rename the month November as far as the gamer’s calendar is concerned. Here are the games we have to look forward to this month:

March 5

Tomb Raider (360, PS3, PC): This game is a ton of fun. I already listed the various review scores out there in a past post. The game is beautiful. The story is earnest. There is more violence than I have come to expect from a Tomb Raider game; however, the people at Crystal Dynamics have been signalling that they wanted a grittier, mature Tomb Raider game since 2009.

Sim City (PC) – When I get a new computer, this is the first thing I am getting. My love for Sim City goes back to its first version of Sim City on DOS, and that crappy port for the original nintendo. Now, Sim City’s launch has been plagued by issues, mainly due to its “always on” DRM. The need to be connected to a server is not an issue when you can connect, but this games server issues have been absolutely horrendous. There is also the issue that this is a single player game, by many respects, and the fact that you need an internet connection to play is a major irritant. All of that said, I am still very excited about this game.

March 12

God of War: Ascension (PS3) – I have already stated my lack of alegiance to this franchise in a past post, but I can still marvel at the technical wizardry that is taking place in this game. It is beautiful to look at, I just am not as big of a fan of the over the top violence as others are. This makes the violence in Tomb Raider look PG.

StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm (PC) – StarCraft 2: Part 2. This first storyline had us playing as the Terran; the second game, coming out this month, has us playing as the Zerg; the final part, The Legacy of the Void, will focus on the Protos, and has yet to have a release date announcement. Blizzard received a lot of anger when they announced that StarCraft II was going to come in three retail releases instead of one, but that doesn’t make its millions of devoted fans any less excited for this month’s release.

March 19

Gears of War: Judgement (360) – Like God of War above, Gears (the other GoW franchise) has gone the prequel route. This time the game is focussing on long-time franchise stalwarts, Baird and Cole, but this time giving them centre stage. What excites me about this game is the updated multiplayer. Over Run looks like the perfect evolution of Gears’ patented ‘Horde’ mode and ‘Beast’ mode. Very excited about this game.

March 26

Bioshock Infinite (360, PS3, PC) – Game designers Irrational Games created my favourite game of this generation, 2007’s Bioshock. The second in the series was developed by another developer and lacked the magic that I found ever-present in the first game. What I hope to see from Infinite, and with it Irrational’s return to the franchise, is that sense of awe and excitement as I walk into a new setting. I want to feel engaged with my environment, not just walk through it. I want to experience deep story-telling in a first person perspective, not just a refinement on shooting mechanics. Where Bioshock 2 just tried to improve upon the mechanics of Bioshock and in doing that, totally miss the point of what made the original so great, I hope Infinite is a return to a more experiential style of game design.

Army of Two: The Devil’s Cartel (360, PS3) – I have no excitement for this game. I have yet to enjoy a single outing in the Army of Two franchise. I feel like all of the negative stereotypes that are levelled against video games are due to franchises like this. In truth, I will not be playing this game at all, but to those who enjoy the franchise, here is a trailer.